[Hardwood Wall Panel] = 2 Wood (Hard, 0.1-0.3m) + 2 Wood (Hard, 0.1-3m) + 12 Bone (Any, 0.01-0.02kg) + [Hammer] (Any)

----------------------------------------

Jay really shouldn’t have come here.

This monster stood over twenty feet tall, with gray muscles bulging from its arms and chest, almost folding over themselves. Between the rock-like warts and calloused skin, bushels of hair sprouted out. A dirty loincloth sat between its legs as it hobbled forth, dragging a club shaped like a giant stalagmite. The head was disproportionately minuscule, with beating red eyes beneath a wrinkled brow, and gnarled tusks protruding from its lips. It roared, snot spewing forth in a noxious cloud.

The party gathered in front, well over a hundred yards away.

“Alright,” Naomi said. “What’s the game plan?”

“Shoot it until it goes down?” Ben suggested.

“I’m sorry. Do you think I’m made of bullets?”

“I’ve got some fresh spiderlings and dynamite if that’ll help.”

“Bah!” Desmond scoffed. “Just beat the cunt to death and be done with it.”

“He is D-Rank,” Sayid emphasized. “We’ll have to be careful.”

“If we hit him all at once, we’ll be fine. Doesn’t even look so bad for D-Rank. What’s the level on it?”

Ben twisted his goggles. “167. Not too unreasonable for a group our size.”

“Wait,” Jay interrupted. “I thought we couldn’t work together directly without breaking Rule 5.”

“We can, but there’s a cost,” Naomi explained.

“Who has the bug, anyway?” Ben asked.

Naomi sighed. “I do.”

She rifled through her cloak before Jay could probe further. A weird worm-like creature came out between her fingers. Its body was thin and gray, with dozens of solid black eyes along its length, staring about. The midsection pulsated with magical essence as its minuscule legs wriggled about.

Jay tried to lean in, but Sayid held up a hand. “Do not approach unless you plan to join.”

“Why?”

“You’ll see in a moment.”

The troll bellowed, slowly limbering up the path.

“We don’t have time to make this nuanced,” Naomi said. “I say we just follow Desmond’s lead, like usual. That work?”

The others begrudgingly nodded.

“You cool taking point again, Desmond?”

He beamed. “Fuck yeah, love.”

“Alright, you all know how it goes. The plan is to do whatever he tells us, okay? We follow Desmond’s lead.” She watched them all, as if explaining to toddlers.

“We follow Desmond’s lead,” the others repeated.

Desmond nodded. “We follow my lead.”

“We follow Desmond’s lead,” Naomi repeated, now assuring herself. “Okay, let’s do this. Jay, take another step back.”

He complied, unsure what else to do.

Naomi held the strange worm up while the others gathered around. With a pop of her fingers, the middle burst open. Blackened pixies fluttered about, enveloping the area where the Expats stood.

And their faces all changed in that moment. Muscles twitching, eyes glazed over. They looked from one to the next, a medley of unidentifiable emotions shifting.

“I am Batman,” Ben said with a deep voice, as though he was actually Batman.

“What the fuck are you looking at!?” Naomi snapped, watching Sayid.

Her friend just stared and drooled.

Ben puffed his chest. “I am Batman,” he repeated.

Naomi shook Sayid. “Don’t you fucking look at me like that. I’ll mess you up, motherfucker!”

He scrunched his cheeks. “Arrogant American!”

“What did you just say to me!?”

But Sayid just drew closer to her face. “You are the cause of this evil with your decadent, infidel ways!”

She grit her teeth. “That’s you, isn’t it, Darnell? You weren’t bad enough to me on Earth? You had to come all the way down here too!?”

Ben stepped between the two and saluted. “I. Am. Batman!”

Jay watched on, his jaw dropped. Just moments before, they had all been good friends. But the second Naomi popped that worm, they became different people, completely lost in these delusional sprees. The moment dragged on as they stood and argued.

Maybe I was close enough. He opened his Guide and checked the Lexicon.

Synbug – A rare feral Wyrm that can be found scattered throughout Annwyn. Its pulsating brain will release a maddening aura when broken, obscuring Natura’s sight against possible Rule 5 violations. Expatriates are advised to use this Wyrm with caution.

Research still available.

So there was a way to avoid Rule 5 violations, and this was it. By unleashing the Wyrm’s magic, they were able to function as a group at the cost of sanity. Jay grimaced. He didn’t need to see their Stats to guess how bad the price was to make them become like this.

Only Desmond seemed fine. He stepped into the group and screamed. “Oy! Don’t forget the plan, you wankers!”

“The plan?” Naomi repeated, her glazed eyes hardening. “The plan!”

“The plan!” the others repeated.

“Lead the way against this heathen!” Sayid shouted, fashioning some cloth from his backpack into an improvised bandana.

“Right-oh then,” Desmond said, staring the troll as it limbered forth. “Only going to say this once, so listen up. Naomi! You go [Wallfoot] and hit the bastard with all you’ve got. Ben! You send in all those [Spiderlings] you got stocked up. And Sayid! I need you to pop your highest level [Swiftness Potion] and go for all the weak points.”

Jay gaped. Unlike the others, Desmond seemed to be immune to the effects of the Wyrm, somehow. He watched the creature in front with a cold stare, ready to bring it down.

“What about you, Desmond?” Ben asked, still speaking with a Batman voice.

He turned, the frenzy in his gaze as well. “Like I said, mate. I’m gonna fuck him up!” He quickly stripped down his clothing, ass and member exposed for all to see. His cheeks reddened as he laughed like a maniac. “We’re going bare-back here, innit!”

Jay watched him blankly. Of course he wasn’t immune to the Synbug’s power. He was just too much of a weirdo to tell the difference.

The Expats charged ahead, with Desmond leading the pack with his gilded axe. His junk swayed back and forth as the troll closed the gap, its giant stone cudgel between its muscled hands.

Naomi darted first, launching for the cavern wall. But instead of hugging against it, she simply ran up the side, her body perpendicular to the ground as her legs ignored gravity. She fired her musket with a shout. The troll flinched where its shoulder took the hit.

Ben went next, throwing a cluster of metal balls with dynamite strapped to the top. As the balls flew forth, they sprouted tiny legs like mechanical spiders. The metal constructs raced into the troll, and the dynamite exploded on collision. The troll jerked its head, now distracted on two fronts.

As Sayid made his own advance, he reached into his gambeson and yanked out a vial. Jay caught the sight of the blue-tinted liquid again as he flicked the stopper free and guzzled it down. His veins blackened and bulged, and his eyes turned bloodshot. He disappeared in a flash. A dozen fresh slashes suddenly appeared on the troll’s body as it wavered about.

“Alright, you wanker!” Desmond called out, his junk still dangling. “Enough being a little cunt. Bend over for Daddy!”

The troll batted about, trying to swat at the exploding spiders and inhumanly fast swordsman. Desmond jeered, but the troll was too distracted to notice.

“If you insist then.” He spit on his palms and wrapped them around his axe hilt tight. With a murmur, the runic symbols along its length glowed bright.

Desmond swung the axe forth. A shockwave reverberated out where it struck the ground, stumbling the troll in place. A flurry of extra attacks landed before it could recover. More viscera leaked free.

Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

Jay watched on, his eyes barely able to track all this destruction at once. The cavern shook as the battle raged on, the squad of E-Rank killers unleashing their full strength against this goliath. Little by little, the troll slowed down. He wouldn’t even need to think about using his pistol at this rate.

More than that, Jay was finally seeing how different Crafts played out at higher levels, no doubt influenced by the class in their Expat core.

Naomi stood as the ranger, using quick movements and her musket to deliver powerful attacks from the safety of distance. Sayid worked as a rogue, although his strength seemed to be influenced in part by alchemy. Ben was a clear technomancer, using tools and gadgets instead of pure brute force. And Desmond was the barbarian, his runic axe an overpowered nightmare when he got the chance to use it up close.

No wonder there are consequences to teams. Even though this troll had them all out-Ranked, it could only do so much against a group at once. Whenever it focused on one of its enemies, several attacked from its blind spot. Its swings were dodged with ease, and the boulders it threw were intercepted midair.

It wasn’t a clean victory. After enough damage had been inflicted, the troll redirected to area attacks, using its sheer size and strength to send tremors out. This left the Expats vulnerable to follow-up hits. Sayid and Naomi fell victim to this tactic first, the sound of bones crunching and blood exploding out when they got knocked back. Ben got dinged up next, a stray boulder shattering against his lithe form.

Only Desmond remained undeterred. He weaved in and out of the melee, bobbing and weaving from the troll’s swings, still butt naked like fighting this way was the most natural thing in the world. He laughed hysterically as he delivered his own attacks, and the troll was too distracted by the others to ever pin him down.

Finally, the troll let out a dying yelp, a hundred minor wounds now spraying blood. Sayid zipped up high, his rapier piercing through the soft skin of its mouth.

The troll’s eyes saw no more, and it fell with a slam.

The battle was won. Jay breathed easy, feeling the monster’s aura fade.

“Take that, Darnell!” Naomi shouted at the dead troll, unloading more bullets into it.

“Praise be, divine ones!” Sayid ululated, bowing into the ground. He repeated the chant again and again, changing the direction he bowed, seemingly at random.

Desmond began to pee in a corner. His urine sprayed everywhere like it was victory champagne.

Jay winced at the strange display. He knew that this was the power of the Synbug against their sanity, but watching grown adults acting this way was starting to become too much. Were they going to snap out of it anytime soon?

A hand grabbed Jay’s shoulder. He turned to see Ben’s determined gaze.

“I am Batman,” he assured him.

* * *

The sun continued to burn bright in its mid-afternoon haze. Waves rolled calmly against the harbor shore made of pale sand. Seagulls cawed, enjoying their day.

And a great bonfire roared along the beach, with D-Rank troll meat simmering along its edge. The other Expats munched on their victory meal, though they also looked tired and worn, as though they’d just woken up hungover.

Except Desmond. He was fine, his arms behind his back and a smile from ear-to-ear. Thankfully, he’d put his leg armor back on.

Jay sat at their side, chewing on his own dried jaguar meat. Since he hadn’t participated in the main fight, it wouldn’t have been fair to take any of the spoils.

Natura would also punish him for it. That Synbug had affected everyone else but him.

“So here’s what I don’t understand,” Jay said after a while. “If the Synbug drove the rest of you insane, then how come Desmond could still run the fight?”

“Innit it obvious?” he asked. “Ole Dezzy’s got balls made of brass, he does.”

“He’s Cursed,” Naomi explained. “And I don’t mean that as an insult. He made a deal with a higher power that let him access runecrafting early, but in exchange, his sanity can never rise above seventy.”

Buzz.

This one only happened to Jay’s Guide. Since Naomi was still dealing with a dwindling madness, he suspected that a lower rule violation like this could not affect her yet. Only him.

Jay grimaced, half-angry at himself for asking a question that he could have guessed, and half-glad that he’d managed to get two answers of how Annwyn worked for the price of one.

“Insanity is a real bitch,” Naomi continued. “Worse than starvation, thirst, or sleep deprivation combined. The moment your sanity falls too low, you’re liable to throw your life away over the stupidest thing.”

“I understand,” Jay agreed, remembering his own first week.

“I can’t believe I’m still doing the Batman thing,” Ben moaned, giving his scalp a rub.

“Yeah, what was that about?”

“I used to do impersonations when I was young, and let’s just say that I got a little too into my character after a while. It got me into a lot of trouble with the missus more than once.” He sighed. “Thank goodness for the Air Force. Joining really cleaned up my act.”

Jay blinked. “You were in the Air Force? You look so…”

“Nerdy?” Ben filled in with a laugh. “I’ll have you know that I was quite the killer back on Earth, same as everyone else here. Did two tours in Afghanistan before my Expatriation.”

“Were you shot down?”

He shook his head. “No, faulty equipment was to blame. I didn’t pick it up until mid-flight, though in retrospect, it might as well have been the same thing.”

Desmond scoffed. “At least yours was quick. The little shit who done me in couldn’t have nicked the heart first.” He held up both hands. “It took seven whole minutes for me to bleed out. Fucking cunt of a death, that was.”

Naomi shrugged. “Would’ve swapped spots with you in a heartbeat, Desmond. You wouldn’t have made it against half the shit I saw on the beat.”

“Wait,” Jay said. “You’re a cop too?”

“Didn’t I tell you that before?” She rubbed her eyes. “Either way, there are still plenty of us out here, even if we’re outnumbered by the real killers ten-to-one.”

“Really?”

“What about you?” Ben asked, giving his chin a rub. “What did you do to get the Grand Bargain?”

“What do you mean? I just did my own thing.”

“Now, now. I may not understand everything about this world, but if I’ve learned anything, it’s why we were sent. Only the toughest fighters were given this quest. Soldiers, police officers, gangsters, terrorists, martial artists.

“I mean, it makes sense, given the context. We’re here to slay a god after all, not sing kumbaya. You’d only want people willing to inflict violence.

“So, what about you, Jay? Did you spend time in juvee? Have a rough childhood?” His voice went low as he leaned in. “Maybe hit some girls because they were weaker than you?”

Jay looked around and saw the other Expats in a different light. It wasn’t that they’d adapted to this world well. They were built for it. That grizzled hardness beneath their eyes told it all. Even Ben. As much as he looked like the comic con wannabe, he still had that same hidden beast as the rest.

“I…” Jay started, his tongue trapped in his throat.

“Go on,” Ben ushered. “If you’re going to be under our protection, we might as well get to know you better. The four of us have all done things we weren’t proud of back home. I promise that we won’t hold it against you. This is a judgment-free zone.”

“It’s not that. It’s just that I didn’t do anything like that.”

He yawned. “Come on, now. Don’t make me have Sayid torture the answers out of you. He’s very good at it.”

Sayid rolled his eyes, more out of annoyance than by disagreement. Were these guys serious?

“No, really,” Jay repeated. “I never did any fighting on Earth, I swear.”

“Well, you had to have done something. What was your job before this?”

All eyes were on Jay now. He slunk into his chair, wishing that he could somehow sink into its wooden frame where he could hide forever.

“I was a Twitch streamer,” he admitted before thinking it through. His cheeks turned bright red.

The silence could have been cut with a knife as the others looked from one to the other.

“That’s new,” Ben murmured, now awkward himself as he returned to his meal.

Jay shouldn’t have felt offended. He’d been the good guy on Earth, doing all the things right as he tried to follow his dreams. Why should anyone look down on him for having fun?

And yet, this stung more now than it ever had before. Even though everyone else gave Jay the same condescending look in his old life, seeing it happen again here was too much.

This is why you’re better off alone. These people didn’t understand. How could they? They spent their lives in the real world, only to end up somewhere that followed his rules. Not theirs.

If anybody was out of place, it was the rest of them. Jay was fine. He might not have been some badass killer on Earth, but he could still make it work if he tried his hardest.

But still… Jay also couldn’t ignore what had been revealed, and that brought him even more unease.

If every Expat had darkness in their hearts, then did the same apply to him as well?

Name: Jay Reis (Primal Age)

Vitality – 38/38

Hunger – 66/72

Thirst – 20/24

Fatigue – 16/24

Sanity – 89/100

Main Crafts: Armor Crafting 2, Base Building 2, Cooking 0, Medicine 0, Tailoring 1, Tool Crafting 1, Weapon Crafting 2.

Weapon Crafts: Axes 0, Bows 4, Clubs 0, Daggers 0, Spears 5, Swords 4.

Armor Crafts: Heavy Armor 5, Light Armor 2, Medium Armor 0, Shields 4.

Armor Skills:

Heavy Armor: [Push], [Stampede]

Light Armor: [Dash]

Shield: [Brace], [Track]

Weapon Skills:

Bows: [Sharpshooter], [Longshot]

Spears: [Thrust], [Sweep]

Swords: [Power Attack], [Slash]

Armor:

[Lizardscale Helmet+2] (Hardened+1)

[Lizardscale Chestpiece+4] (Hardened+1)

[Lizardscale Leggings+2] (Hardened+1)

[Lizardscale Boots+1] (Hardened+1)

[Lizardscale Gauntlets+1] (Hardened+1)

[Scaled Roundshield+3] (Hardened+1)

Weapons:

[Hardwood Sword+3] (Reinforced+1), (Stable+1)

[Flint Spear+4] (Reinforced), (Hardened)

[Wooden Bow+3]

[Basic Leather Quiver]: Contains 20 [Flinthead Arrows]

[Crude Javelin Bag]: Contains 5 [Crude Javelins]

[9mm Semi-Automatic Pistol] (Accurate+2), (Quick): Contains 8 [9mm Cartridge] (JHP)

Tools:

[Flint Knife+1]

[Stone Axe+1]

[Stone Hammer+1]